Why I Bought It:At first glance it looks like instant ramen, but in looking at the cartoon character with a mallet, it revealed itself to be instant ramen that you eat instantly, like as is...right out of the package...dry. It's as if ramen manufacturers knew that people ate them this way!

Tasting Notes:It wasn't as instant as the package suggested. Opening the packet you find what you'd expect, a block of dried ramen. On the back, there are instructions:

"Open the bag and remove the seasoning packet. Crush the noodle bite sizes (sic). Put the seasoning in the bag, shake well and enjoy!"

Well, I prepared it as the directions told me, and I'm certain that all the manufacturers did was changed the packaging on their regular product. The seasoning packet is like any you've seen for other ramen, probably containing just the same ingredients. Plus, for the pack, there is just as much calories (410), fat (15 grams, or 24% of your daily allowance) and sodium ( 930 milligrams, or 39% of your daily allowance). You think to yourself that you might as well cook it up and have a nice noodle soup.

Eating it this way, though novel at first, becomes a bit tiresome after a while...not to mention makes you wickedly thirsty.

It's like that Seinfeld episode where Elaine's boss steals Elaine's idea of opening up a muffin top store, but couldn't make it work. Then Elaine explains to him that the muffin tops only taste good when torn off from an actual muffin. Yeah, it's exactly like that.

Edwin Goei was born on the island of Java, grew up in La Habra, studied in Irvine, and eats everywhere. Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, he went by the alias "elmomonster" on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.